Traditionally, industrial data centers have been designed to accommodate relatively large "mainframe" computer systems. These systems include stand-alone hinged cabinet contained control processing units, tape guide systems, disk drives, printers, control consoles, and the like. When assembled within a data center, the systems have required a relatively larger amount of floor area within a given building, as well as a carefully controlled environment. Control over that environment requires a dedicated, sealed computer room which is serviced by corresponding dedicated air-conditioning systems. In similar fashion, critical equipment within the room is serviced by dedicated uninterruptible power supplies. Because of the extensive amount of electrical interconnection required both for power supply and system communication, these computer rooms typically contain raised floors formed of tiles supported upon frames beneath which the complex cable networks can be laid. Generally, the provision of such computer rooms has represented a substantial financial investment on the part of the user.
Over the recent past, the computer industry has introduced processing systems employing more modern, modular electronics and supporting components permitting their rack mounted installation. Such modularized designs provide for substantial flexibility in accommodating for varying processing demands. For example, these systems readily are expanded incrementally as the growth of processing needs on the part of the user increases. As a consequence of improved design, such systems exhibit lower heat loads, lower noise output, and a compactness in packaging such that they are promoted for installation within the environment of a business office as opposed to a data center. One such system, for example, is identified under the trademark "AS/400", marketed by International Business Machines Corporation. This system offers a family of processor related modular units generally employing rack-mounted packaging. Cabinetry carrying the rack mounted modules will, for example, have nominal dimensions of 26 inches width by 36 inches depth, and 62 inches height. To facilitate their delivery to an intended operating location, they are supported for movement upon casters. With the racks fully loaded, the equipment may, for example, exhibit a heat load of 11,000 BTUs per hour, representing a demand for about one ton of air-conditioning. Similarly, the units will call for an uninterrupted power supply load capacity of about 3 KVA. These requirements, particularly when more than one component of a system is utilized (a typical case) generally cannot be accommodated by the in-place air-conditioning system of a building nor its in-place power capabilities. Thus, the user is called upon to find a technique of buttressing air-conditioning capacities, as well as power feeder inputs. Additionally, to accommodate for anticipated growth increments in such systems, in keeping with that aspect of the system design, the user must anticipate future air-conditioning needs, as well as future uninterruptible power supply needs. The result, in general, has been a resort on the part of the user to a conventional sealed computer room, an approach which essentially compromises many of the advantages of this modular form of processing system. Such computer room installations further may be called for where the office facilities within which the systems are installed are leased. Very often, the owners of such leased facilities will substantially shut-down building air-conditioning systems over weekends and the like much to the detriment of the data center. Thus, a dedicated environment is necessitated. Further, where computer rooms are installed within leased facilities, those dedicated rooms become fixtures and, without agreement otherwise, cannot be dismantled and transported to a new installation site.
As is apparent, the full advantage and flexibility of these newer modular computer systems can be recognized only when a corresponding flexible, modular support of their environmental and power input demands can be achieved on a practical cost basis.